After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where no one falters.
